IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/anr/refeco/v10y2018p387-412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capital Structure and a Firm's Workforce

Author

Listed:
  • David A. Matsa

    (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA)

Abstract

While businesses require funding to start and grow, they also rely on human capital, which affects how they raise funds. Labor market frictions make financing labor different than financing capital. Unlike capital, labor cannot be owned and can act strategically. Workers face unemployment costs, can negotiate for higher wages, are protected by employment regulations, and face retirement risk. I propose using these frictions as a framework for understanding the unique impact of a firm's workforce on its capital structure. For instance, high leverage often makes managing labor more difficult by undermining employees’ job security and increasing the need for costly workforce reductions. But firms can also use leverage to their advantage, such as in labor negotiations and defined benefit pensions. This research can help firms account for the needs and management of their workforce when making financing decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • David A. Matsa, 2018. "Capital Structure and a Firm's Workforce," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 387-412, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:10:y:2018:p:387-412
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-financial-110716-032519
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-financial-110716-032519
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1146/annurev-financial-110716-032519?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John R. Graham & Hyunseob Kim & Si Li & Jiaping Qiu, 2019. "Employee Costs of Corporate Bankruptcy," NBER Working Papers 25922, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Baghai, Ramin & Silva, Rui & Vig, Vikrant & Thell, Viktor, 2020. "Talent in Distressed Firms: Investigating the Labor Costs of Financial Distress," CEPR Discussion Papers 14383, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. YunGuo Liu & Minghui Zheng & Yue Xu & Sujuan Xie, 2023. "Deleveraging for talents: Human capital reliance and corporate leverage," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 4823-4847, December.
    4. Borisov, Alexander & Ellul, Andrew & Sevilir, Merih, 2021. "Access to public capital markets and employment growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 896-918.
    5. Cao, Zhangfan & Rees, William & Zhang, Zhifang, 2023. "The effect of real earnings smoothing on corporate labour investment," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6).
    6. Ramin P. Baghai & Rui C. Silva & Viktor Thell & Vikrant Vig, 2021. "Talent in Distressed Firms: Investigating the Labor Costs of Financial Distress," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 2907-2961, December.
    7. Whited, Toni M, 2019. "JFE special issue on labor and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(3), pages 539-540.
    8. Jancenelle, Vivien E., 2021. "Tangible−Intangible resource composition and firm success," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Hossain, Mohammed Sawkat, 2021. "A revisit of capital structure puzzle: Global evidence and analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 657-678.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    leverage; corporate debt; unemployment; labor bargaining; employment protection; pensions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:10:y:2018:p:387-412. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: http://www.annualreviews.org (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.annualreviews.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.